Conga Drumming: A Beginner's Guide to Playing With Time Paperback – March 1, 1996

Would you like to have fun?? Get yourself some congas, a wagon to pull them from the car, join a drum circle, That will really be all you need to do, spend, or know. It's ok if your shy, self conscious, or never touched a drum before you show up, in fact usually someone will usually offer to lend you a maraca, tambourine, or a drum to use if you brought nothing. You don't need to be able to speak to strangers, the drums are loud and constant. You don't need to know how to play, Everytime the group mind ends one rhythym, several people will start new patterns until eventually most will start playing the same, (this all happens by instinct or something, no one says a word about it, it just happens) a few will be playing something else or another, but it doesn't disturb the dominant beat at all. And no one will be able to tell how you sound at all, really, so play your heart out, that is really the way most people in the drum circle learned as well, try to figure out the best and do what you can, you will really surprise yourself because it's like you are part of a "hive mind". You can get great deals on drums in pawn shops. Then if you really want to learn faster, use YouTube, and this great famous book and it's cd, and just playing whatever your heart and soul puts out, and you will know why people love hand drumming so much. Google the physical and mental health benefits, universality and very ancient history of hand drumming, you will be stunned and amazed, but after your first or second time, you will know the fantastic claims are all true and then some. All these strangers meet up, most often never saying a word, and get on the same rhythyms, and somehow everyone just agrees without a word that one is done, stop for a few moments, several people start a new one others begin joining back in, until one beat dominates again, and that repeats until the circle starts breaking up. People passing by will get in the middle and start dancing, some start showing up to dance regularly. It's a joyous, very special event, that are showing up and organizing groups and sessions everywhere, just like cultures had been doing since the dawn of time. It is very good for the mind and emotions, very joyous, and it costs nothing once you have a drum (and you can even participate without that) and whatever it takes to get there. No one is in "charge" if you want to drum a different beat, no one cares, people come and leave, no one cares, if you can only get there for an hour in the middle, that's really ok, no one cares, no one makes any judgements on anyone else, everyone is too into the music.Read this interesting and innovative book, get yourself to a nearby drum circle, you just show up, there is no registration or sign up, just ask around where to look for cancellations or change of venue in case of bad weather or emergency.

One of my many “bucket list” things I wanted to do is learn how to play the drums with and without drums sticks. I saw this 160 page soft cover book (Conga drumming: A beginner’s guide to playing with time by Alan Dworsky and Betsy Sansby, which also includes a CD to better understand the 175 rhythms taught in the book) on Amazon for a bargain price and I purchased it. Even though I have had a few lessons using my drum sticks I thought it would also be fun to learn something about playing the Conga drums.This book is organized into eight parts with 43 lessons. The first part explains how to hit the drum using rhythms in four. The second part deals with Bembe rhythms in six. The third part focuses on the clave. The fourth part explains heel-toe patterns. Advanced rhythms are covered in the fifth part. The sixth part teaches advanced rhythms in six. Playing two drums are explained in part seven. The last part has interweaving four and six. There are also sources for further study and an index of rhythms.In learning any skill nothing takes the place of taking lessons from an instructor; however, I found this book very helpful when I combined it with some basic hands-on lessons. There are not many books out on Conga drumming and if you are seeking a good basic volume on this topic you should check out this book.Rating: 4 Stars. Joseph J. Truncale (Author: Zen Poetry Moments: Haiku and Senryu for special occasions).

I found this book invaluable for learning the basics of conga drumming without a teacher. I used it for several months before hitting my first conga class, and was really glad I had worked with the book. I was able to pick up right away with the rest of the class on several of the rhythms. However, I will warn anyone using the book that this drumming world is steeped with "variations". That is, you'll frequently find that your teacher is using a slightly different variation than the one taught in the book. This is fine, however, since it's usually easy to alter what you're doing slightly.One of the more impressive aspects of the methods in this book is the holistic approach, for example, teaching how to feel the clave underneath the rhythms you're playing. The book also does about as good a job as any book can at teaching the hand technique, although I highly recommend complementing this with good videos of accomplished conga players. Youtube, for example, is a great resource. Here again, though, you will find different philosophies of technique, and again your teacher may have his own emphasis.

I bought this for my 13yr old son, who is new to conga drumming. It was less immediatly interesting than I had hoped, and for about a month it sat in the shelf ignored. But when he finally became motivated to really learn, he started using this and likes it. He also uses YouTube videos to learn.

not what I expected, maybe good for someone who don't know how to read real chart. The book teach basic rhythm like bembe,tumbao,bomba,calypso,rumba, and include an audio example of each rhythm what is nice, But I read music since I'm young so I find the annotation system they use more annoying than practical. So, good book if you a beginner in music but personally maybe not good if you know music and you begin with conga, also I though it will have audio that you can really have fun playing with ,but its really more just example of all the rhythms in the book.

There is so much to learn from this book. So many rhythems and methods to quickly advance any beginner or intermediate learner.

The congo Drumming, A Beginers guide to playing with time, is usful for begginers like myself, however I am more intrested is using it in conjuncion with our church band and the rhythms presented in the book are for rhythms that I would only seldom use. The Book orginally included an audio disk and the Kindle version did not come with the audio, which I would have liked.

The emphasis with this book is playing in a group of conga players. Each player having a separate part to play within the group. This is a great way of learning rhythms and more fun than just being stuck on your own.The descriptions of how to make the different sounds available on the conga a really good. I especially like the way that the 'slap' tone is described and is particularly useful to beginners since it is a more difficult sound to produce.The rhythms taught are instantly useable - from the first rhythm that you learn. They start very easily and gradually you get hooked into more complex patterns. Before you know it, you're tapping your knees while watch tv or listening to music. It can easily become a difficult habit to stop.The rhythms presented are interesting and fun to play. This book is a great buy.

Unfortunately no CD enclosed - an important ingredient of the course. I cannot get sellers to check for a CD when it is a vital part of the product

All Good, thank you

Very clear and concise information on conga drumming. Good diagrams showing the hand positions for different sounds which clear up any ambiguity resulting from trying to figure it out by watching youtube! Lots of interesting rhythms with variations. Enough material to keep you going for a good, long time! If you're a beginner you will love this book as it is easy to understand. There is plenty of material for the more advanced student as well. A much needed addition to the conga books already out there.

Surtout depuis que je suis passé à la méthode 3 livres plus 3 DVD de Tomas Cruz. Je n'utilse plus la méthode de Dworsky. Elle m'a été utile au début mais il manque des DVD et j'ai même pris en plus un CD audio de rhythme dans la collection du livre.